Xbox 360 Surges in Japan

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Monster Hunter and slimline release lead to 8 time boost in hardware sales.

By Anoop Gantayat

How do you get the Xbox 360 to sell in Japan? A new hardware redesign and one of Japan's biggest IPs certainly don't hurt. Those two combined last week to boost Xbox 360 hardware sales over 8 times the week prior.

Capcom's Xbox 360 port of Monster Hunter Frontier Online was the top selling game for the week covering June 21 through June 27, according to data from Media Create. The port sold 93,000 units following its release on June 24.

Buying the 5,800 yen Frontier disc gives players access initially to an open beta test for the game. On the 8th, this test will give way to full service. All buyers get the first 30 days for free. After that, 30 days play costs about $15.

All copies of the game also include 12 months of free Xbox Live Gold. Gold membership is required to play the game. Capcom included the 12 months membership in order to give Microsoft time to set up a billing system where Frontier subscribers will be able to pay for their Gold Membership and MHF usage fees in one go, at the same price that PC version users pay.

Monster Hunter topped the charts despite some tough competition this week. The top ten consisted mostly of new releases.

Of particular note was Love Plus +, Konami's followup to its September 2009 girlfriend simulator. The original started off modestly, but ended up selling over 250,000 units thanks to word of mouth (it also didn't hurt that news programs were airing reports of players getting married to their digital girlfriends.). Love Plus + is more of an upgrade than a sequel, but it adds so much additional content that it doubles the cart size to four gigs (Konami's Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3, also released this week, is also four gigs).

Here's the full top 10 for the week. Life-to-date sales are in parentheses:

1. Monster Hunter Frontier Online (Capcom, X360): 93,000

2. Love Plus + (Konami, NDS): 84,000

3. Atelier Totori (Gust, PS3): 54,000

4. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story (Konami, NDS): 52,000

5. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo, Wii): 42,000 (614,000)

6. Hatsune Miku Project Diva Value Version (Sega, PSP): 29,000

7. White Album (Aqua Plus, PS3): 26,000

8. Starry Sky in Spring Portable (Honeybee, PSP): 22,000

9. Ghost Trick (Capcom, NDS): 20,000 (44,000)

10. Painting Classroom DS (Nintendo, DS): 20,000 (41,000)

Xbox 360's surge in hardware, fueled in part by Monster Hunter and in part by the June 24 release of the 250 gigabyte slimline model (Microsoft timed the hardware with Monster Hunter) still wasn't enough to put the system above PS3 and Wii, but it did get within striking range. Of course, the big question is how the system's sales will trend in the coming weeks.

DSi LL was the number one system for the week, managing to actually sell more units than the week prior when Nintendo slashed prices and released new colors. The reason for the boost may be the release of three special DSi LL hardware bundles for Love Plus +. These are the first game-specific DSi LL hardware revisions. Konami created one system for each of the three digital girlfriends who appear in the game.

Here's the full Media Create hardware chart. Last week's sales are in parentheses for comparison.